


Cute Girls and Coffee

by xslytherclawx



Category: Sapphic Girls Stereotypes Alignment Chart - bedupolker
Genre: Coffee, F/F, POV Alternating, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21798226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: What do an exhausted MFA student and a high-powered businesswoman have in common?More than you'd think, actually.
Relationships: Lawfully Butch/True Neutral, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24
Collections: Yuletide 2019, xslytherclawx’s events collection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jamjar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamjar/gifts).

> I hope you enjoy your gift, jamjar!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Just to be clear, here, Shifra is True Neutral, and Natalie is Lawful Butch.  
This is split into two chapters.  
Thank you to reishiin and Meggie for beta reading!

Shifra James followed a lot of people on Instagram, even though it was hardly her preferred social media platform. She felt much more at home on Tumblr or Twitter (or, admittedly, getting into political arguments on Facebook) than she did on Instagram, but Instagram was where she posted her art. 

It was also where she got a pretty consistent stream of gorgeous people visiting gorgeous places and eating delicious-looking food. She wasn’t stupid enough to think that these people’s real lives were as wonderful as their Instagram profiles made it seem, but it was a nice distraction when she needed it.

One of the people she followed was the most gorgeous butch she’d ever seen. She was aware, peripherally, that they now lived in the same city, after Shifra had moved there for her MFA, but she’d certainly never seen her around town.

And, really, she’d just gotten out of a long-term relationship just about a year ago. She was focusing on taking some time for herself. She wasn’t looking for a  _ relationship, _ with a man or with a woman.

Still, a girl had needs, and she was pretty familiar with the hookup app circuit. She’d even, in the hope of success, downloaded gay and Jewish dating apps, as well as some general hookup apps. It wasn’t that she was desperate, but she wanted to cast as wide a net as possible.

She was absent-mindedly swiping through one of her apps while she was in line for coffee (because the coffee machine in her studio had broken, and she didn’t have time to go out and buy a new one) when she saw her.

The butch from Instagram.

**Natalie, 29, lesbian, 1.3 miles away.**

_ really not looking for anything serious _

Shifra didn’t really think before swiping.

She’d always kind of thought Natalie was unfairly gorgeous. She had close-cropped short black hair and gorgeous dark brown eyes, never seemed to wear makeup, and, at least on Instagram (and now in the app, too), was always impeccably well-dressed. In her photo in the app, she was wearing a lavender collared shirt with a tie and a navy blazer.

Shifra was into it.

And even if Natalie never swiped back, there were so many more women who at least slept with women in this city than there’d been in her hometown, or even the college town where she’d done her BfA. It wasn’t like she’d be crushed.

The person in front of her paid and moved on, so Shifra went up to the barista. “Hi, I’d like a large black coffee please. With four shots of espresso. Thanks.”

* * *

Shifra had left her phone plugged into the charger at the studio, so she didn’t get the push notification until she went back the next day. Going back to the studio in and of itself took longer than expected, because her train was late again (with no real explanation given), and she’d just started to weigh the pros and cons of walking the ten blocks to the studio when the train pulled up.

Her phone wasn’t even the first thing she reached for — it was her large black coffee. Left over from the night before, but coffee was coffee, and she wasn’t about to let it go to waste.

Once she’d drained the cup, she went to her phone and scrolled through her notifications as she set up what she needed for the day.

And then she saw it.

**Natalie liked you back!**

**New message from Natalie!**

_ Well, _ she thought, _ might as well. _

* * *

Shifra didn’t quite understand it herself, but somehow she ended up at Natalie’s (super sleek and modern and  _ expensive) _ apartment in Center City that night. Of all of the fancy, expensive gadgets in the apartment, what drew Shifra’s attention immediately was the coffee maker.

“Is that a Ninja?” Shifra asked.

“It is,” Natalie said. “Would you like a drink?”

“You mean a coffee drink?” Shifra asked.

“Well, I do have alcohol, too, if you’d prefer that.”

“Coffee’s fine, thanks.”

Natalie nodded and walked over to the machine. Even the way she  _ walked _ was sexy. She was so unbelievably confident; she had that  _ swagger _ that Shifra had always admired. “Anything in particular?”

“Espresso?” Shifra asked hopefully.

“Got it,” Natalie said. She tapped something into the machine and then turned to face her, leaning against the counter. She made it look so easy and effortless.

“Thanks,” Shifra said. What was she doing here? Natalie was  _ way _ out of her league! Women like Natalie didn’t waste their time with women like Shifra.

“Shifra’s an interesting name.”

“It’s Hebrew,” she said. And then, because she’d learned the best way to avoid the inevitable question was to answer it before it could be asked, “My mom’s Jewish, and my dad’s Black.”

“My parents are first generation Chinese-Americans,” Natalie said. “So I got the American name and all of the expectations.”

“Are they, um, cool with — y’know?”

Natalie raised a perfect eyebrow. “With me being gay?”

“Yeah,” Shifra said. She could feel herself start to blush. What an insensitive thing to ask!

“They are now,” Natalie said. “It probably helps that I have an older sister and a younger brother, and we’re all — well, we’ve all become successful in ways our parents wanted us to.”

“What do they do?”

“My sister is a doctor and my brother is a lawyer. And my sister is hetero-married with a kid.”

“Oh,” Shifra said. “I have an older brother. He’s a rabbi.”

“A rabbi?” Natalie repeated. She handed the espresso over to Shifra.

“Yeah. And neither of my parents are really religious — Hebrew name notwithstanding. I mean, I had a bat mitzvah, but after that, we never really did anything. So it was a surprise when Rani decided to go to rabbinical school. And he’s gay. So. Me being bi wasn’t a big deal.”

“I can’t even imagine what that must be like.”

Shifra shrugged as she tried to  _ sip _ at the espresso and not down it in one shot like she so desperately wanted to. “My parents are pretty chill. I mean, they’re both lifelong Democrats who’d probably disown me if I voted Republican, but that’s, like, their one thing, and I wouldn’t ever do that anyway.”

“Where are you from?”

“Oh, uh, like, a little town in California. It’s pretty small, like, no one’s heard of it.”

“That makes sense,” Natalie said. “You seem very… West Coast.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not to me,” Natalie said. “Now,” she said. “Do you want to go to the bedroom?”

She was direct. Shifra supposed it went hand-in-hand with the confidence. “Okay,” she agreed.

She followed Natalie across the open concept apartment to the bedroom. Before she could settle on anything, Natalie kissed her.

Shifra was well aware that she probably tasted overwhelmingly of espresso, but there was no time to worry about that now. Natalie was as amazing at kissing as she was at everything else. She was aware that Natalie was  _ way _ out of her league, but she didn’t care about that right now.

It wasn’t every day she got to hook up with a super gorgeous butch, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Natalie Cheung prided herself on not having intentionally listened to a single male artist in two years. Sometimes, of course, it couldn’t be helped. She didn’t know who’d decided that Ed Sheeran made excellent ambient music, but she disagreed. Strongly.

She allowed some leeway, of course. Bands with female singers but some male musicians were passable, though she tried to listen to all-female bands when possible. If a man featured on a woman’s song, she wouldn’t immediately skip it.

Beyond that one requirement, Natalie wasn’t very picky about music. She’d listen to anything once, and genre was no barrier.

And she liked to go to shows.

She didn’t go to a lot of them. She was a very busy person, after all, and her work came first. But, well, when your favorite local gay indie band had a show three blocks from your apartment, you kind of had to go.

She was aware that she didn’t look like the kind of person who went to shows. She wore suits and blazers and while she wasn’t above spending good money on shoes, she went for Allen Edmonds instead of heels or sneakers.

Even dressed down, she still didn’t quite look the part. She wore a pastel floral short-sleeve button-down with (tailored) black jeans. She switched her Allen Edmonds for (reasonably priced) dressy sneakers.

Natalie made sure not to show up at the venue before the doors opened. It was a small indie show, and there was really no point in waiting outside.

Once inside, she got a local craft beer at the bar and waited for the first band (another all-woman local band) to start. They were, as she expected, actually pretty good. She didn’t think she had a new favorite band, by any means, but she still probably would look them up on Spotify when she got home.

She listened along and got a second beer after she finished her first.

When she turned back to the stage, she saw a very familiar head of curly purple hair. The city wasn’t really  _ that _ big, and the queer scene was even smaller. She supposed it was inevitable. Perhaps it was even surprising that they’d gone two months  _ without _ running into each other.

They’d only hooked up once, but it had been fun. Neither of them had brought up the possibility of it happening again, because there hadn’t been much sense to it at the time, but now… well, she didn’t think she’d refuse if Shifra asked.

Natalie was halfway done with her second beer, waiting for the next band (still not the main act, but such was the indie music scene) to come onstage when Shifra approached her.

“Natalie, hi. I didn’t know you liked this kind of thing.”

“I do,” Natalie said. “I’ve followed the headlining band for a while.”

Shifra nodded. “My best friend’s cousin used to date the bassist.”

“Really?” Natalie asked.

“Yeah,” Shifra said. “She’s really cool — she’s actually one of the first people I met in this city. I mean, usually this isn’t my scene. I tend to go for more, like, punk and emo than the chill indie rock stuff, but…”

“Punk and emo?” Natalie asked, careful to keep her expression neutral. She really didn’t want to offend Shifra by seeming judgy.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Shifra asked with a grin, and okay, she really did have an adorable grin.

“I don’t think most people’s taste in music is as obvious as you’d think. At least in my experience. I tend to try to avoid drawing conclusions.”

Shifra hummed. “How about… if I can guess, let’s say, three out of five bands or artists  _ you _ like, you have to buy me a drink?”

“Sounds fair to me.”

The band started setting up onstage.

“What about the Indigo Girls?”

Well, she’d gotten that one. “Easy guess, but — accurate.”

Shifra smiled. “Okay, so now I have to guess two more, and I still have four left. Piece of cake.” She looked Natalie up and down. “Teagan and Sara.”

“I don’t  _ only _ listen to lesbians, but yes. I like them.”

“So if you don’t only listen to lesbians, what about Taylor Swift?”

Natalie laughed. “Definitely not. I know it’s not just straight girls who like her, and I wouldn’t say I hate her by any means, but — definitely not to my taste.”

“Okay, okay,” Shifra said. “I still have two guesses.” She grinned. “Bikini Kill.”

“Surprisingly, yes.”

“Surprisingly?” Shifra asked.

“I would have thought it’d be your first guess, really.”

“I like them,” Shifra said. “I just wasn’t sure if  _ you _ liked them. But that  _ is _ three right, so surprise me.”

Natalie smiled. “A promise is a promise.”

“I’ll wait right here.”

Natalie nodded and went back to the bar. She finished her second beer, ordered another for herself, and one for Shifra.

Shifra was standing right where Natalie had left her, and she handed her the beer. “Hope you like beer.”

“Not to sound like a drunk, but I’ll drink anything,” Shifra said, taking the beer gratefully. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

The second band started playing, so Natalie didn’t try to talk to Shifra until they were done.

“So what music do you like?”

“Hm, top five?” Shifra said.

“Yeah.”

“Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, The Smiths, Twenty One Pilots, and Paramore.”

“Not My Chemical Romance?”

“Overrated,” Shifra said.

“But The Smiths aren’t?”

“The Smiths shaped a generation,” Shifra said. “Like, yeah, they’re pretentious assholes, but they made some damn good music together.”

“I haven’t listened to a male artist in two years,” Natalie said.

“I can respect that,” Shifra said. “I don’t think  _ I  _ could do it, but I respect it.”

“I like Paramore, though,” Natalie said.

“Did it ever occur to you that ‘Misery Business’ is kind of gay?”

“It’s really gay,” Natalie said. “And I listened to it a  _ lot _ in high school. You know the story — ridiculous crush on the hot cheerleader.”

Shifra laughed. “We all know  _ that _ story.”

“But I didn’t come out until college.”

“Where you doubtlessly dated half a dozen sorority girls,” Shifra guessed.

“More or less,” Natalie said. “What about you?”

Shifra shrugged. “I realised I was bi in middle school, which was when I came out, and then I mostly ended up dating guys, because there were, like, two other bi girls at my school and one lesbian, and hundreds of guys. Didn’t date a girl until undergrad, but — it’s been pretty balanced since then, I guess.”

* * *

Natalie wasn’t terribly surprised when Shifra ended up coming home with her — nor when she marvelled over the coffee machine again. She made sure Shifra knew she could spend the night if she wanted to.

She wasn’t totally sure if Shifra stayed for her or the coffee machine, but it was nice.


End file.
